Is Your Firm's IT Prepared for the Next Storm?

by pablo hurtado, esq.

In my preparation for writing this article, I quickly realized many of the articles and CLEs presented on IT hurricane and disaster preparedness are written after a natural disaster. Just in the last 5 years, SWFL has endured Irma, the pandemic, numerous tornadoes, and our run-of-the-mill summer afternoon deluge with lightning strikes that knock off power right before we end our day. When we thought we were going to get through the 2022 hurricane season without being in the cone of uncertainty, Hurricane Ian inched its way toward us. It made a hard right at the last minute and brought historic catastrophic damage to our beloved paradise where we live and work.

Many of our friends and loved ones have lost everything. To those of us fortunate enough to have survived, we assessed the damage to our possessions, our homes, our businesses and our law practices. We wondered when we could get back to serving our clients. Business continuity is crucial to the health of any community in disaster recovery and redundancies is the key to business continuity. Below are four redundancies to prepare your practice for business continuity when a natural disaster strikes. Manage the Redundancies First and foremost, the firm must decide who will be managing these redundancies. I attended a CLE regarding IT and law practice management, and the speaker was asked who handled their law firm’s IT. I was shocked when the CLE speaker nonchalantly explained it was a buddy

from college who had a cousin that “did websites”. This cannot be how we manage the critical data our law firm possesses and is responsible to steward. This not only includes client data, but employee data, firm financials, and other confidential information. As a practitioner in the year 2022, we must come to terms with the fact that IT is a critical operational component of our business that requires not only a full-time position, but 24/7 365 days a year monitoring. Too many lawyers are either trying to play the role themselves or having a non-IT professional on staff or acquaintance be their “IT guy”. As fiduciaries, business continuity must be a priority, and I highly recommend law firms, even small solo practitioners, consider an ITmanaged service provider (MSP). MSPs are third-party companies that serve as the firm’s IT department. Besides taking care of your everyday IT needs, workstation and network management, security, password management, dual authentication, licensing for software, integration of client management services, automation, and numerous other daily IT needs, they would be creating and maintaining the redundancies I detail below, as well as advising on new technology to ensure business continuity. Having a team of IT professionals preparing you every day for the inevitable disaster may be the single most important aspect. Plus, you want to be able to instantly access IT professionals who know your exact strategy and all its nuances before, during and after the storm or disaster event. This is what best ensures business continuity. Data Redundancy Secondly, the firm must decide how to back up and protect its data. Any organization can hold data in a variety of locations, including locally on their personal workstation or mobile devices, on the office network — such as a shared drive, server, or cloud — or on a variety of cloud-based apps. Because data is in so many different areas, each requires its own special attention and strategy. The bulk of client data and firm work product is usually stored in some form of a shared drive. Today there are many solutions on how to save this data, back it up and make it available remotely and securely. Cloud-based server solutions, such as Microsoft Azure, working alongside Microsoft SharePoint can provide a seamless work experience, not only for data and data accessing but for continuing to work on all Microsoft documents and applications. Locally stored data can also be backed up daily to the cloud. Now as more data is stored on the cloud and more cloud-based apps are used, it is vitally important to manage and secure login credentials. Saving your login credentials to your web browser may be convenient, but it is a huge security risk that exposes you and your firm’s data to bad actors who by accessing your browser information have access to all your credentials. Solutions such as IT Glue not only provide a platform to save your credentials, they also create secure passwords for you. Finally, multi-authentication security is highly recommended and can now be easily implemented with secure applications such as Duo Mobile. As you can see this is a multi-layered topic with many outer bands that if not considered and managed

properly can also cause destruction. Again, another reason why to strongly consider an MSP. Connectivity Redundancy Third, the firm must decide how to create internet access redundancy. If the firm is fully dependent on one Internet Service Provider (ISP), then all the firm’s business continuity is fully dependent on the one ISP’s business continuity, i.e. “if Comcast is down then we are There will be a next Hurricane Ian, and even if it is not of the same magnitude, there will be other instances where these four redundancies will establish you as the firm that was ready to serve clients during the latest crisis. down”. A firm does not have to stop when one ISP stops. There are backup internet connectivity solutions including cellularbased and satellite-based providers. You can set up a backup cellular data access point to provide Internet access when your main ISP goes down. You can even have multiple cellular data backups. For example, you can have both Verizon and AT&T 4GLTE and perhaps even 5G UW feeding your office internet access while Comcast is down. Additionally, you can add another layer of internet access redundancy with Starlink, SpaceX’s new network of satellite-based internet access. Having your own access point with multiple providers as a redundancy can pay immediate dividends. However, during Hurricane Ian, not only was Comcast down, but cell service (voice, text, and data) was very bad. If power is down, these cellular access points are also down and that is when Starlink access is critical as it may be your only internet connectivity option. The idea is to have these redundancies in place as we have now all experienced worst-case scenarios. And yes, an MSP, can advise, manage, and maintain these redundancies for the firm. Power Redundancy All these connectivity redundancies are not worth very much if you do not have electricity to power your location. Note that by having an MSP and cloud-based

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data back-up and access, you have already solved the most crucial aspect of power redundancy as your data and MSP are already connected. Now you just have to get to a location that has power. At the most basic level, if you have access to your cellular-powered devices and have established connectivity redundancy, you can now access your data and systems if those devices have their batteries charged. You should invest in additional battery backups to prolong the use of those cellular devices. However, let’s dive a little deeper because battery backups will only last so long and as Hurricane Ian taught, we can be without power for days and even weeks. Let’s start by addressing strategies for those that own their commercial properties. Consider the installation of a permanent backup generator. This usually involves the installation of a large propane tank underground and the generator kicks on whenever your power cuts off. Depending on the size of your tank, the generator can last for several days and even weeks. You would contact a commercial contractor for such an installation and regular maintenance. Another alternative is to install solar panels on your property, along with battery power storage. It should be noted the installation of only solar panels without the battery power storage would not be a power redundancy because the solar panels only provide power back to the power grid, and therefore, you would still need the power grid to be functional to receive power into your building. If you do not own your office space and are dependent on a landlord, the first task is to research what power redundancy your office space has available. If there is none, your options are to have a backup office location(s) where you and your team can function during the loss of power. Yes, your home can be used as a first line of defense if it was spared during the disaster, but this may not be an option. Also, if you have staff, there may not be enough space. It is better to explore the possibility of prearranged agreements with other offices, outside of the loss of power area, to use as an emergency command center and office location. This may be an office in a nearby county or even in another state where you can operate until the power comes back on. You can also explore the use of executive offices such as Regus. Regus has a network of executive offices worldwide and for a small monthly membership fee you can have use of office space when working from another location – even within your own larger metro area. They usually have flex space available to accommodate your staff. Days before a storm arrives, you can call ahead and secure space for the days after the hurricane.

Think of these four redundancies as the legs of a table. They work together to keep you stable, secure and operable. Three legs give you a sturdy stool, but you don’t want to be working off a stool; you need a strong table. There will be a next Hurricane Ian, and even if it is not of the same magnitude, there will be other instances where these four redundancies will establish you as the firm that was ready to serve clients during the latest crisis.

Pablo S. Hurtado, JD, MBA, is the co-founder and owner of Perado Technologies, a technology consulting firm that is focused on providing law firms tools and guidance to effectively use technology to improve their business processes so they can better serve their clients and create a sustainable and scalable law practice.